Filing cabinet



Oct. 4, 1955 Filed Feb. 8, 1954 .1. E. ROBERTS 2,719,770

FILING CABINET 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jim son 5: Robert:

INVENTOR.

lllorney United States Patent FILING CABINET Judson E. Roberts, VanNuys, Metal Production Company, poration of California Califi, assignor t0.-Holga VanNuys, Calif., a cor- This invention relates generally to cabinets and relates more particularly to filing cabinets.

While the invention has particular utility ernbodie-d'in metal filing cabinets and is shown and described embodied therein, it is to be understood that the utility of said invention is not confined thereto.

Serious accidents have occurred .as a result of filing cabinets overturning onto a person when opening wellfilled upper drawers and this danger is always present and particularly likely to occur when the drawers are heavily loaded and the upper drawers are pulled out a substan tial distance to get at papers at the back.

Accidents of this character have occurred in fourdrawer filing cabinets and thedanger is increased with higher cabinets having more drawers. In some offiees an attempt has been made to eliminate this danger by anchoring the cabinet to the floor or to walls but this is not always feasible and is expensive and difficult. Moreover, the floor and/or walls are likely to be damaged by the anchoring means. Moreover, should it be desired to move the cabinets, they must be detached from the floor and/or wall and this entails considerable labor and consumes considerable time.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome the above mentioned danger and difficulties.

Another object of the invention is to provide means which will permit opening of only. one drawer at a time.

Still another object of the invention is to ,provide mechanism of this character which will lock all the drawers but one at a time in the closed position.

A further object of the invention is to provide mechanism of this character which will'permit opening of any one of the drawers whenv all the drawers are closed.

A still further object of the invention .is to provide mechanism of this character that is easy to install and which may be installed in cabinets already manufactured as well as in new cabinets.

Another object of the invention is to provide mechanism of this character that. is simple in construction and operation.

Still another object of the invention is to .provide mechanism of this character that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following part of the specification.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are for illustrative ptu'poses only,

Fig. 1 is-a perspective view ofa filing cabinet in which the present invention is embodied;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front view of the mechanism for holding the lock hasp or red in the unlocking position;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the lock hasp in a downward position; and

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are side views of thelock rod actuating mechanism with a drawer in various positions.

Referring moreparticularly to the drawings, there is shown a cabinet having sides 10, a top 11, a bottom 12,

. like.

same in position although 2,719,770 Patented pct. 1955 and aback 14. The variousparts are securedtogether in any well-known way such as screws or welding, or the Thus there is formed the cabinet. enclosure which is open at the front. The front is provided with transversely extending cross-members 15 which are arranged in parallel relationship to each. other and are spaced.ver tically apart to form drawer openings, indicated generally at 17. The cross-members '15.maybe securedjby any well-known means.

At each side of each drawer opening there isa cabinet raceway 18 which is generally channel shaped and which is secured to adjacent portions of the cabinet by any suitable well-known means such as welding,.screws or the like. The cabinet raceways 1 8 extend from front to. rear of the cabinet and are'located.adjacentthe horizontal plane of the respective cross-members 1 5. Themeeha nism includes a cradle assembly (not shown) which is slidably mounted in the cabinet. raceways of each drawer opening. The' drawer assembly is carried by.t he cra d le assembly in the usual manner and each, drawer assembly comprises a front 20, sides 21, a bottorn notshown, ahd

a back 22. .The various parts ofthe drawer assembly are secured together in. the usual mannerand each side is provided with an outwardly extendingchannel 23which extends longitudinally of the side adjacent. the upper edge thereof. These channels form tracks for reception of the usual follow blockangle members, notshown. Alsoeach side has an external angle member, termed a drawer raceway, indicated, generally at25 which has .a vertieal side 26 spot-welded or otherwise suitablysecured to the; adjacent side. The otherside or horizontal arm 27 extends outwardly of the adjacent side at an anglenormal thereto and said member 27 extends longitudinally of its respective side. The parts .27 of, the members ZS, areoperably received-within channel members of thecradle sothat the drawers may be moved easily and. smoothly into, and out of the body of the cabinet. ,Suitable stop. means, not shown, limit movement of the cradle assemblies.

The safety locking mechanism comprises a lockflrod 30 mounted adjacent and. parallel to .theback 14. The. rod 30 comprises a relatively flat stripyslidably mounted to said back by any suitable means. ,As, shown, this means comprises brackets 31 of sheet metalasecured to theback 14 by spot welding 32. The bracketsare spaced apart vertically and each bracket includesa pair of, oppositely disposed tongues .33 which overlie the rod 30 and retain permitting longitudinal movement thereof.

Each drawer is providedwith releasable latchingmeans which includes a cam member 35 shown a s an angle piece .of sheet metalhaving an ,armh36,.securedto said rod 30 .by any suitablemeanssuch as welding or the like. The otherv arm 37 of the cam nemberisdis Osed at an angle normal, to the, plane of the rod .30,.and outwardly of the outer plane of the-adjacent side 21, of its respective drawer. The-arm .37 is, provided with a slot which includes a downwardly inclined portion 738 and a substantially vertical portion 39. The sides ,40 and 41 of the inclined portion 38 provide cam, surfaces inclined downwardly and rearwardly withrespectto the front edge 42 of the .army 37, said cam surfaces-being spaced apart in generally parallel relationship and the vertical portion 39 of theslot extendsupwardly .of the .lower end of the cam surface 40 to provideagenerally-vertical abutment 44. The adjacent draweris providedwith -an interlocking member-.45 securedtothe rearwalljlZ by any suitable means such as welding ortthelike and said member ,45 projects laterally of the drawer soas so as to provide a recess 48 in which the rod 30 is slidable. There are outstanding flanges 49 at the sides of the recess portion 48 which are secured to the back wall 14 by any suitable means shown as screws On the inner side of the outer wall 51 defining the recess 48, a leaf spring 52 is provided. The spring 52 is secured to the wall 51 by any suitable means such as spot welding 53 and said spring includes a portion 55 which extends upwardly from the bracket 47 and is provided with a keyhole slot having a generally parallel portion 56 and an elongated narrow slot portion 57. The rod has an opening 58 therein for reception of a ball 59 of any suitable material, said ball being shown as a steel ball. The diameter of the ball 59 is somewhat greater than that of the opening 58 and also is greater than the diameter of the portion 56 in spring 52. The opening 58 in the rod 39 is so located that when said rod 3t) is in its up position, the ball engages the portions 5'6 of the keyhole slot in spring 52 thereby releasably retaining the rod in its up position. When the rod is moved downwardly, the ball 59 rides along the slot portion 57 of the keyhole slot and the spring is yieldably moved outwardly of the rod 30 to the position shown in Fig. 4.

When all of the drawers are in the closed position, the rod is in its up position, as shown in Fig. 3. The arms 37 are then disposed with respect to the latch members 45 as shown in Fig. 5. It is to be noted that the bottom edges 60 of the slots in the arms 37 abut against the underside of the members 45. When a drawer is opened, the latch member 45 of said drawer moves to a position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5 whereat it engages the bottom of the cam surface 41. Further outward movement of the drawer causes the member 45 to ride on the cam surface 41 and force the rod 30 downwardly carrying along without the brackets 35. The ball mechanism of the rod 30 is then in the position shown in Fig. 4 when said rod is in its lower position. The members 45 of the remaining drawers are then in the upper end of the respective parts 39 of the arms 37 and outward movement of any of said other drawers is prevented by engagement of the respective member 45 against the side 44 of the vertical slot portions 39 of the bracket of said drawer.

When the opened drawer is moved to the closed position, the member 45 of said drawer moves into engagement with the cam surface 40 of its respective bracket as best shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6. Further movement of said drawer causes the bracket thereof to be forced upwardly, thereby forcing the rod 30 to the up position where it is releasably held by the ball 59.

Any other drawer may then be opened but it will be apparent that upon the opening of any drawer, the remaining drawers are locked against opening.

I claim:

1. In latching means for the drawers of filing cabinets wherein said drawers are slidable inwardly and outwardly with respect to said cabinet and vertically arranged: a relatively flat lock rod arranged vertically within the cabinet, adjacent the back thereof and adjacent one side and having an opening therethrough; guide means for said rod so that said rod has longitudinal sliding movement; flanges secured to said lock rod in longitudinally spaced relationship, there being one flange for each drawer, each flange being notched from the forward end, said notch being inclined downwardly and rearwardly from said forward end and having a generally vertical portion at the back thereof to provide an abutment edge v the inclined portion of the notch being defined by spaced generally parallel cam edges; latch members secured to the respective drawers adjacent the inner ends thereof, said latch members being adapted to be received in the notches of the flanges, each latch member being adapted to operably engage the lower cam edge of the adjacent flange as the respective drawer is initially moved in the opening direction, said member acting on the cam edge to move the lock rod downwardly to a position whereat the abutment edges of the other flanges are in the path of their respective latch members so as to prevent said drawers from being opened, the latch member of the opened drawer being adapted to operably engage the other cam edge when said drawer is moved to a position adjacent its fully closed position and upon further closing movement move the lock rod to a raised position whereat all of the drawers are unlatched; means for releasably retaining the lock rod in the raised position, said means comprises a ball of larger diameter than the opening in the lock rod, said ball being received in said opening and a leaf spring extending longitudinally with respect to the lock rod and having a keyhole opening therein with the enlarged portion of said opening of smaller diameter than said ball and receiving said ball when the lock rod is in the raised position, said ball being adapted to move along the narrow portion of the keyhole opening when the lock rod is moved downwardly; and means for fixedly securing one end of said spring.

2. in latching means for the drawers of filing cabinets wherein said drawers are slidable inwardly and outwardly with respect to said cabinet: a lock rod arranged vertically within the cabinet and having an opening therein; guide means for said rod so that said rod has longitudinal movement; arms secured to said lock rod in longitudinally spaced relationship, there being one arm for each drawer, each arm having an abutment, and spaced generally parallel cam surfaces; a latch member for each drawer, each latch member being adapted to operably engage one cam surface of the adjacent arm as the respective drawer is initially moved in the opening direction, said member acting on the cam surface to move the lock rod downwardly to a position whereat the abutments of the other arms are in the path of their respective latch members so as to prevent said drawers from being opened, the latch member of the opened drawer being adapted to operably engage the other cam surface when said drawer is moved to a position adjacent its fully closed position and upon further closing movement move the lock rod to a raised position whereat all of the drawers are unlatched; means for releasably retaining the lock rod in the raised position, said means comprises a ball of larger diameter than the opening in the lock rod, said ball being received in said opening and a leaf spring extending longitudinally with respect to the lock rod and having a keyhole opening therein with the enlarged portion of said opening of smaller diameter than said ball and receiving said ball when the lock rod is in the raised position, said ball being adapted to move along the narrow portion of the keyhole opening when the lock rod is moved downwardly; and means for fixedly securing one end of said spring.

3. In latching means for the drawers of filing cabinets wherein said drawers are slidable inwardly and outwardly with respect to said cabinet: a movably mounted lock rod; and having an opening therein; arms secured to said lock rod, there being one arm for each drawer; a latch member for each drawer and each arm, each latch memher being adapted to operably engage a part of the adjacent arm as the respective drawer is initially moved in the opening direction, said member acting on said arm to move the lock rod to a position whereat the other arms are positioned so as to prevent said drawers from being opened, the latch member of the opened drawer being adapted to also operably engage the adjacent arm when a said drawer is moved to a position adjacent its fully closed position and upon further closing movement move the lock rod to a position whereat all of the drawers are free to be opened; means for releasably retaining the lock rod in the latter position; said means comprising a ball of larger diameter than the opening in the lock rod, said ball being received in said opening and a leaf spring extending longitudinally with respect to the lock rod and having a keyhole opening therein with the enlarged portion of 6 said opening of smaller diameter than said ball and re- References Cited in the file of this patent ceiving said ball \zvhen the 106k rod is in said latter POSi- UNITED STATES PATENTS non, said ball being adapted to move along the narrow 5 portion of the keyhole opening when the lock rod is 2123? g d d 1 move to the first mentrone posi 1011 and means for fix 2,564,039 Thomas g 1951 V edly securing one end of said spring. 

